in a word, stylish

Rating: Null/10 (22 March 2004)

**some minor spoilers follow**
There's been a bizarre renaissance in zombie movies lately. This is my favorite one, probably because it's merely zombie-like. In place of the usual cannibalism and excessive gore you'd expect from a film like this, "28 Days Later" focuses more on character development and atmosphere. The early scenes, set in a deserted London, are the most effective; it really does feel like the apocalypse has come, and nothing about the production appears phony or staged. Later on, the action is confined to the more modest setting of a manor house, and things slow down a bit. But the opening segment is still some of the most effective horror I've ever seen.
I saw this in the company of a good buddy who thought that the characters were badly developed, and I guess she has a point - we don't get THAT much background - but by horror standards, what we do get is exceptional. What really matters to me is that I like the heroes (and I do), so I don't want them to get killed. And that's all you need to drive a movie like this.
Could it have been better? Well, yeah - everything can be better - but overall, this is a stylish take on zombie films. My only real reservation is the happy ending, especially since it's tacked on after a sequence in which Jim goes berserk and kills the soldiers. I get the message - Jim succumbs to "the rage" without contracting the virus, proving the theory that "people killing people" is the norm for humanity - but how am I supposed to switch over to cheerful mode after being fed this depressing line of thinking? To me, that's the film's only substantial weakness; a grim ending would have served it better (and such an ending does exist, tacked on to the DVD release as an extra).